From BrWiki
Brechtur » Danigau » Folk of Danigau » Stark Family
Heinrich Stark
M.Br. Noble 1, Fighter 1. LE. Cha 14, Con 12, Dex 14, Int 12, Stn 14, Wis 8. Vorynn, minor, 22: 1 minor. Mebhaighl sense.
Quote: You are my ears sweet Gretchen, I will dispose of the snooping fool that dares doubt my honor before they whisper their lies to my enemies.
What do I care for your excuses or your whining? You are guilty, mine to dispose of as I please; convince me why I should not decorate my gate with your head if you wish to keep it above your shoulders.
I will have vengeance for my son, weak though he was Theresa; first I shall claim your son, then your entire family, then finally you yourself. I will destroy every shred of your families honor; make a ruin of all your investments, break any who speak your name with pride.
The lord of Clearwater is a cruel man prone to black depression and sudden anger. Of late Heinrich has gone from quiet disdain for other nobles to a much harsher approach, openly mocking then for their faults and brutally taking advantage of perceived weakness. In part this change of perception is caused by Heinrich’s mistress Gretchen. Gretchen has fed Heinrich’s feeling of superiority and natural cruelty and in so doing gained a substantial amount of influence over him.
One of the things that Heinrich is most bitter about is his bloodline – when his father died Heinrich inherited no strength from his father as the bloodline passed to another and Heinrich has a number of spies active looking for someone able to alter their appearance as a result. A number of performers and con-men have found themselves at the not-so-tender mercies of the Baron being accused of theft, their brutalized bodies have occasionally been found by the Hoklep lifeguards and rumors are starting to spread to Blackruft of slavers, assassin guilds and worse.
Heinrich routinely creates intrigues to detect disloyalty or excessive greed amongst his minions, on occasion these intrigues have grown beyond his control and he has then employed mercenaries to eliminate the evidence of his involvement.
Heinrich levies severe punishments in his courts – few escape the maximum punishment permissible under Danig law when they are brought before him and he has ruined many families with his fines. Heinrich is however equally harsh to the minor nobles who normally escape censure due to their status and this has earned him the intense dislike of many of the lordlings of Starkhundt.
Heinrich has grown increasingly harsh over time and some suggest that he now resorts to torture to extract confessions or punish those who are impudent to him in court; these rumors are whispered only however – Heinrich is said to have many agents who would carry such treasonous words to him. Count Erik Danig had spoken increasingly sharply to Heinrich in recent months regarding the baron’s brutality however Heinrich’s clear efficiency at running his province had spared him any formal censure.
Heinrich’s brutal young son Richard was recently killed in a sudden, unexplained duel with Everard Tallon; the common reasons for a duel (women, some insult, drunkenness) appear absent, and the ferocity of the duel on both sides (Richard reputedly frothed at the mouth!) left witnesses shocked, the witnesses have vanished however aside from Gretchen Weisschal, and Heinrich exults in the approach of the headsman’s axe, and has openly boasted he plans to wield it himself.
Irma Stark
F.Br. Noble 1. LE. Cha 10, Con 8, Dex 12, Int 16, Stn 9, Wis 14. Vorynn, minor, 20: 1 minor. Mebhaighl sense.
Quote: Bah! Honor, justice, words used by the weak to chain the strong and deny them their due. Strength is what matters, to be feared is a far greater power than to be loved.
Fortune gave Irma the face and soul of a bull-dog but a mind like a steel trap. Irma has spent the last 30 years nagging her brother Heinrich to make something of the family and is delighted that he’s finally taken to her way of thinking; now she just has her son to knock into shape - at least he has his father’s looks and his mother’s brains, not the other way around.
Kiel Stark
M.Br. Guilder 1. CG. Cha 17, Con 12, Dex 16, Int 16, Stn 10, Wis 14. Vorynn, minor, 28: 1 minor. Alter appearance, 1 major: Mebhaighl sense.
Quote: I see your point Hubert, but there is still some small truth in Helma’s argument, both of you may yet profit by compromise, let me suggest an accord.
Trade I understand of course, but trade with such as you is trade for no profit – only a fool thinks gold of value if his head would lie on a pike after the winning of it; away from me with your schemes, even to have spoken to you could mean my death were it discovered.
Quite how Kiel was raised amongst the haughty Stark family and retained his sense of humor is hard to fathom, the rakish Kiel has used his relaxed charm to keep the families relations with the fishermen who hire the family ships cordial and the family’s smelters haven’t faced a work stoppage since he took over the family’s negotiations.
Kiel is however bored of playing merchant, the ‘pocket-money’ Heinrich grants him keeps only a handful of his girlfriends in nice dresses and ribbons and frankly if he has to spend another 4 hour meeting debating whether a cask-slagger deserves a higher skill-payment than a cask-tapper he will commit an act of bloody violence. He is also quite keen to get well away from Heinrich for a while – something has seriously annoyed Kiel’s uncle and Kiel has a fairly good idea what.
